Waste-To-Energy Tech Incubator Gets $1.8M

The federal government is backing the development of green technology companies in Missouri with a $1.8 million grant. The money, coming through the Economic Development Administration (EDA), will go to State Fair Community College in Sedalia, Mo., to help build a business incubator focused on waste-to-energy technology companies. It is expected to create 136 jobs.

The EDA said the Missouri center will incubate early-stage companies. The center will also become part of a training program designed to certify 150 energy technicians on an annual basis, to serve the growing green energy cluster that has developed in the region.

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EDA officials said bringing new technologies into the marketplace is a crucial part of creating jobs and improving the nation’s economy. The grant will not only serve the emergence of new green tech companies, but will also train future green tech workers.

According to the college, the Missouri Center for Waste to Energy, in addition to its incubating and job-training functions, will include a waste-to-energy power plant, capturing methane gas from a landfill and converting it to electricity for use by the college and for the operation of the center. “Once the center is fully operational, it will employ 30 people and produce 3.2 megawatts of electricity,” the college said.

Kristy Hessman is a writer and native Oregonian who currently resides in California. Before starting her own company, she worked as a reporter covering business and politics for daily newspapers and The Associated Press.

2 Comments

Ed

It’s a shame that the grant money is going to a waste of nresources and energy like WTE.nnnnIncineration and other so-called conversion technologies, such as ngasification, pyrolysis, and plasma, rely on and enable poor design andn inefficiencies.nnnnWTE technologies produce dirty and expensive electricity. They results in pollution, be it greenhouse gases or ash.nnnnWTE destroys opportunities for recycling and composting along with the jobs that these sustainable options create.